From DE 10 2007 029 623 A1 a throwing apparatus with magazine is known that has several firing cups and throwing bodies situated therein. The firing cups are mounted in a drum around a drum rotation axis with various elevation angles. By these means, several firing cups form an aiming range of the thrower of 360° all around. The entire thrower can be azimuth aligned. The electrical ignition voltage is conducted to the throwing cups via a slip-ring transformer.
In case of a threat, throwing apparatuses of this type discharge appropriate throwing bodies. The active bodies are thereby ejected from the firing cups at a constant speed defined by the propellant and subsequently develop their active agents.
The not previously published DE 10 2008 058 776.1, for example, relates to the firing of non-lethal ammunition by means of a weapons system. It is provided here that so-called “boom-boom” projectiles are fired by small arms. In addition, the firing of non-lethal ammunition in the medium-caliber range is mentioned in DE 10 2005 040 407 A1, as well as in DE 10 2005 040 406 A1.
In principle, non-lethal ammunition is used wherever unrest, or the like, or police operations take place. In particular, firing from larger weapons (for example 40 mm) can lead to collateral damage, which according to the principle of proportionality can frequently not be tolerated. Known non-lethal ammunition that can be fired is, for example, the irritant round or the impulse round.
Mortars based on compressed air have already been known for a 100 years (http://www.landships.freeservers.com/ah ww1mortars.htm). DE 49631 and U.S. Pat. No. 1,709,496 and U.S. Pat. No. 556,058 are also concerned with old compressed air weapons of this type.
Various other pneumatic weapons, or throwers driven by compressed air, etc., are described in US 20090145414 A1, US 20090007765 A1, US 20050188976 A1, or U.S. Pat. No. 3,536,054 A, as well as U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,961 A.
A new type of air cannon is also disclosed on the internet pages http://www.I-tan.com/ and http://www.I-tan.com/cannon4.asp. In EP 1 793 166 B1, a similar industrial cannon is used for the internal cleaning of industrial furnaces, bunkers, and the like, as well as for the shattering of material aggregations by bombarding them with it. The method excels in that the bombardment takes place by means of a projectile with a percussion fuse and a charge of explosive, or pyrotechnical material, from an industrial cannon driven by compressed air.
CH 624 480 A5 proposes that, for unloading a muzzle-loader, a source of compressed air be assigned to the weapon that introduces dosed amounts of compressed air into the inner barrel end in order to eject a loaded bullet from the barrel, but just far enough that it can be grasped securely.
The ballistic device disclosed by EP 0 037 870 B1 has a drive barrel provided with a vessel containing compressed air ahead of it. The latter is connected to the drive barrel by means of a lateral opening. The opening itself is sealed tightly by means of the projectile when the projectile is situated in the firing position. In addition, the device has a trigger mechanism that enables the projectile to be pushed in the barrel for a distance that suffices to cover the opening.
A firing device, embodied as a muzzle-loader, is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,152 A. In this known firing device, the shot is fired in that a closing valve situated between a launching tube and a pressure vessel is opened only during a precisely specified period of time so that a predetermined amount of compressed gas strikes the rear zone of the projectile body, and ejects it from the launching tube. The fixing device, provided in this firing device for fixing the position of the projectile body in the launching tube, is essentially composed of a steel spring, which is selected such that it positions the projectile body in the correct position before firing, but when the projectile body is impacted by pressure, it is not hindered while being pushed out of the weapon barrel.
Known weapons for firing, in particular, larger caliber ammunition, have the disadvantage that at close range of, for example 20-100 m, effects cannot be adequately controlled.
A pneumatic thrower for firework projectiles is described in WO 93/25861 A1, and has a drum, wherein the respective drum tube is rotated over the pressure vessel so that the projectile situated in this barrel can be ejected.
In the present case, the object of the invention is to provide a weapon for firing lethal ammunition, and also non-lethal ammunition, wherein the weapon is also suitable for use at close range.